goody2shoes

Intermarriage, faith wise, generally makes for a difficult arrangement - independent of the 2 belief systems. Also I know of many teachers who send their children to private schools because the public schools are bad. And I do not know many Christians who engage in atheist bashing. However, Christian bashing, religion bashing, and boasting of superiority are the norm in the "infidel" postings.

I attend a church with a few thousand "unorthodox" Christians. If any of the infidels live in Eastern Massachusetts, I'd invite them to attend a few of our services and see if the opinion holds up.

Goody

sullster

I have to add my reactions to Mr. GOODY2SHOE's kind thoughts.

A lot of anger there. You have painted us infidels with a broad brush. We spout "long winded philisophy" and we act superior,you say. What happened? Did some atheist cut you off on the South-East Expressway? Seems like road-rage to me.

So us atheists don't know how to talk to the Creator of the Universe. Well, DUH! We don't believe in any Creator, so such an activity is an utter waste of time. You really haven't hurt us much with that criticism.

A little sensitive about the Hitler references, are we not? The point is not only if Herr Hitler was a christian, but the troubling fact that he was able to lead a "christian nation" to almost derail Western Civilization by destroying Europe and killing the traditional enemies of christianity-the Jews. Can you not face the fact that christianity is impotent as a moral force against the truly irrational?(OOPS, sorry, I am indulging in long winded philisophy).

One last tidbit. Stalin went to a Russian Orthodox Seminary school when he was young. Did or did not, that education influence his later career?

Straight Hate

Edited for redundancy.

[ September 13, 2002: Message edited by: Kathall ]</p>

Philosoft

It simply makes no sense to assert that atheism was capable of proscribing Stalin's despicable behavior. Atheism, by definition, has no singular moral authority whose alleged words can be interpreted or misinterpreted to suit the whims of the interpreter. In other words, atheism cannot be said to "want" one to do something, unlike, say, Christianity.

<strong> I believe modern Communism considers religious idolatry unacceptable because it detracts from the reverence the citizens should have for the state. I'd speculate it's not the idea of a creator per se, but that the attention given to worshipping the creator is attention not given to social duties.

Philosoft

I'd say your generalization is wrong. Simply reading some testimony on this site suggests that at least as many atheists are partnered with or married to believers as other atheists.

<strong> I find this interesting. Speaking from limited experience (my boss' children attend the local Catholic high school), the private school teachers are paid less almost across the board, have on average less education (said Catholic high school does not require its faculty members to have bachelor's degrees), and are far less equipped to teach the more advanced sciences and logics that are available in all the local public schools. What's more, the Catholic school offers a fraction of the dual-enrollment courses that the public schools offer. There are kids on the volleyball team I coach that take only one class physically at the high school.

<strong> I'm not sure Michael Newdow would agree with you.

<strong> I defy you to show that such things are normative. What you likely call "bashing" actuall entails logical, philosophical and empirical argumentation. There are no atheists running around here posting nothing but "religion sucks."

<strong> Why should anyone go to such lengths to correct your bigotry? You might try showing a little honest understanding of what actually takes place on these fora, rather than mindlessly reinforcing your stereotypes.

Family Man

But no one claims that atheism produces better behavior. Christians, on the other hand, frequently claim that their religion makes them better people. That's why bad behavior by Christians tend to get scrutinized. Without the better behavior claim, Nikolai's paper would be irrelevant.

goody2shoes

I will note that I have a number of atheist friends -- as well as Christians. None of us defame the religious beliefs of any other religion or non-religion. The church I attend does not either.

My comments are about the posts on the infidels - not about any religious belief system. The moderators will stop any personal attacks but will allow all allow generalities to stand. (In fact they make many themselves as in Bree's post in this thread.)

When the subject is Christianity I think that comments like the following are uncalled for.

"Don't get me started. Christians SUCK!" (Starboy)

"I have to agree with Starboy. My girlfriend in college was a devout Southern Baptist, and she gave incredible..... uh, never mind." (Kosh)

On the subject of private schools, I'd suggest that your one data point is misleading. The majority of parents, professors and employers agree that private schools have higher standards than public schools. It is also fact that private school students get higher SAT grades than public school students.

I apologize for inviting anyone to come and examine the Christian beliefs of a church I attend. It was silly of me to offer.

Goody

DMB

Goody: IIDB is a site for infidels. We are not likely to be polite here about religious beliefs because we consider them to be erroneous and detrimental to human society. Religious believers are welcome to post here, and most of us, under the watchful eyes of the mods, try to be reasonably polite towards them. But nothing constrains us to take their beliefs very seriously.

If you see the Emperor going round naked in the belief that he's wearing his magnificent new clothes, don't you want to speak out on the subject? He may be a very nice emperor and you may love him very much, but that doesn't alter the fact of his nudity.

Philosoft

As is the case with most citizens of this country.

<strong> People make generalizations all the time. If they are part of an evidentiary argument or are particularly wrong-headed, they will be contested. If you wish to contest Bree's generalizations, no one will try to stop you. Such things are hardly worthy of moderator intervention.

<strong> I think these came from Rants, Raves & Preaching, which you should understand is a lightly moderated forum. Much more vitriol is tolerated in that forum than in the others. People will tend to say things out of frustration in there. If you don't agree with it, and many don't, you don't have to participate. You can stay in the philosophical fora, where the mods will ensure such comments are swiftly dealt with. Either way, specifically looking for comments offensive to theists on this website will be met with sure success.

<strong> I'm not sure what you mean by 'higher standards.' Certainly, the parents of private school students have higher average income.

<strong> There are numerous factors that affect SAT score differences. To imply that the sheer quality of education constitutes the bulk of the difference is ludicrous.

goody2shoes

I think that you just agreed with what I have said. I'm certain that most infidels would be greatly upset if someone posted a string of negative comments about blacks or gays or atheists or Italians. I notice that the Infidels are PC enough to always criticize Christians and not Jews for the content of the Old Testament. Christians are fair game because Infidels are superior in intellect, higher in morality, and see the Christian stupidity and evil. So being a bigot is O.K. under certain conditions. "He may a bigot, Mr. Moderator, but it's O.K. because he's our bigot.

Have a good time; I have to go elsewhere for a while. You all may have the last words.

Goody